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Spring is in the air! I have been taking pictures of all of the flowers in our yard and I thought I would share them with you. Nothing like a little inspiration to get you prepared for the Spring Petals Quilt Along! And thank you for the positive response to the QAL. I’m very excited to get started!

In the front yard of our house, I have nasturtiums nestled with pansies. A beautiful combination of color. Nature sure does have it figured out!

And the roses are just starting to bloom. I love the perfume of Double Delight:

And the beautiful orange and coral hues of this rose (the name escapes me):

And there is a pink and blue color combination thanks to the forget-me-nots and (again the name escapes me and I’m too lazy to look it up):

And you’ll find Cooper hunting for lizards among the azaleas:

In the backyard, the orange blossoms are heavenly. It’s my favorite scent of all!

I’ve got milkweed growing wild in one corner. Now where are the butterflies?

Toby the tortoise is starting to get active. He said hello to one of Cooper’s toys today (once he decided it wasn’t edible):

And the lilac tree is in full bloom:

Speaking of which, I picked some of those blooms and I couldn’t resist a little composed photo. I do have some lovely lilac-colored fabric along with some green and gray for a pretty ensemble:

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Are you guys ready for a Spring Petals Quilt Along? I know I am, so ready or not, here we go!

I’ve been loving the spring weather here in Northern California. Even though we desperately need the rain, spring has erupted with sunny skies and warm temperatures. Last weekend, my daughter, Nicole, went hiking in the foothills near our home and she took a picture of these wildflowers:

Photo courtesy of Nicole Cefalu

California poppy and wild lupine are a pretty combo. It makes me want to create something “springy”, and I had a fabulous idea! My Winter Seeds Table Topper would be perfect as a spring project. I’m going to re-vamp it into spring petals and I hope you guys will join me!

Winter Seeds Table Topper

This project has been one of the most popular tutorials I’ve done on my blog. It’s small and quick with fusible machine applique. If you’re not an applique fan, then you might want to try this because I said so anyways, since the shapes are very beginner-friendly.

This coming week I’ll be working on a pdf version of the Winter Seeds tutorial that I did last year. By the beginning of May, we should have a Spring Petals Table Topper finished (just in time for Mother’s Day)!

Here’s the schedule:

April 3 Pattern available as a free pdf; pick out your fabrics

April 10 Cutting and piecing

April 17 Applique

April 24 Basting and quilting

May 1 Binding

Here’s a peek at the fabrics I’ll be using for my version:

Pretty, pretty! I can’t wait to get started! I hope you all have an amazing weekend!

Happy quilting day! It’s official, today is National Quilting Day! As if you need an excuse to spend some time quilting this weekend, but maybe there is a little less guilt and a lot more community involved with today.

I will be working on a project that has a March 31st due date, but you’ll have to wait until then to see what it is.

Today I want to share a mini quilt that I recently finished as part of the March Mini Madness going on at the Fat Quarter Shop. They challenged us to make a mini quilt by the end of March and to post it on social media with the hashtag #fqsmarchminis. And to top it off, they’re having a giveaway. One winner will be chosen on March 31st from all who enter. You have plenty of time to join the fun!

Did you know that March is National Craft Month, and that this Saturday is National Quilting Day? In 1992, Quilting Day was voted in as a national holiday, taking place on the third Saturday of every March. I wanted to let you know about a few exciting things going on to celebrate the occasion.

First of all, this weekend The Quilt Show is giving everyone free access to their membership website. This means you can watch as many shows, videos and classes as you want from Friday morning until Sunday night. You should look at the show list; it’s a bucket list of “sewlebrities” that I would love to take a class with. PLUS you can win prizes!

To celebrate National Quilting Day, The Quilt Pattern Magazine is giving away a free mug rug pattern. This is an online magazine that is a great resource for quilting patterns, tips and information. This cute mug rug was made by my friend and co-worker Carol Dockery of Quilter by Night Designs.

I Love Quilting Mug Rug designed and made by Carol Dockery

You can read more about National Quilting Day at The National Quilting Association website. To honor the day, they are sharing a free pattern with the quilting community. This year’s pattern is called Crooked Path, designed by Denniele Bohannon.

Crooked Path, designed by Denniele Bohannon

I hope you have a great weekend and that you can devote some time to quilting. I plan on doing a little each day. On Sunday I get to spend four hours sewing with members of my guild. Sew sweet!

I love it when I finish a substantial-sized quilt. For me, that’s anything bigger than a lap quilt. I just finished putting the binding on my “Classic Meets Modern” quilt which was a block of the month from last year hosted by Sew at Home Mummy. Erin guided us each month with a traditional quilt block that she gave a modern twist to.

I used fabric from my stash in a rainbow theme. The final quilt setting was up to us. I chose a traditional 3 x 4 setting with plain sashing. I decided to make the borders with a little splash of rainbow color against some gray triangles. I love how it turned out!

Jody Gosnell from The Granary did a great job quilting it for me. The geometric lines add to the modern feel. If you want to see more Classic Meets Modern quilts, you can check out the link-up here.

Yesterday, I taught a class using the Quick Curve Ruler for the Silicon Valley Modern Quilt Guild. We used the Metro Twist pattern (both from Sew Kind of Wonderful), and it’s always fun to see the blocks come to life in different colorways of fabric. We had a nice, small group, and here are the ladies with their finished blocks:

I’m also working on a new block of the month for 2015 at The Granary called Quilting Cousins by Lori Smith at From My Heart to your Hands. This is a traditional quilt pattern and I have 4 blocks done so far. I’m using a fabric bundle from Riley Blake Designs called Vintage Verona by Emily Taylor Design along with my own stash. I like the coral/red and blue color combination.

I’m finishing up my rainbow mini quilt for the swap I’m doing on Instagram. I’ll show pictures of that one later. I seem to have a thing for rainbows these days. And I’m working on a “desire to inspire” challenge for Henry Glass Fabrics which is due by the end of the month. I say “working on” which translates into “thinking about” or “percolating ideas”. Oooph, I need to get cracking!

Don’t forget that the Craftsy sale on all classes ends tomorrow (Monday) at midnight MT. An online quilting or sewing class would be the perfect way to celebrate National Craft Month!Have a great week everyone!

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